Invisible
by Tari Silmarwen
Summary: AU. One-shot. He might be able to survive this internship... if only he could keep his mind off the pretty boss. Slaine/Asseylum


(A/N)- Short bit of fun from an AU prompt meme. Though let's be frank, I don't need much motivation to write alternate universes where Slaine and Asseylum can be happy, lol.

Disclaimer: *insert muttered salty grumble*

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**Invisible**

"Troyard!" a sharp voice snapped at him from across the room. "Quit dallying around! Those presentations aren't gonna make copies of themselves!"

Slaine snapped out of his daydream, quickly re-straightening the stack of papers in his hands. "Y-yes sir!" he squeaked, clutching the stack to his chest and scampering off towards the copy machines.

He breathed a sigh of relief once he was out of range of Mr. Cruhteo. He might only be getting paid pennies for this job, but he'd still hate to lose it. He needed the experience, an open position was waiting for him at the end of the three-month line…

And he'd really just hate to disappoint…_ her_.

Slaine loaded pages into the copier listlessly, his mind already wandering again, filling with the image of her neatly braided blonde hair, youthful face, and sparkling green eyes.

So young and already so accomplished. CEO of the company, listed on the Forbes 100 for the past three years, confident, charming, charismatic, charitable, beautiful.

He sighed to himself miserably.

Untouchable.

Even if the lovely Asseylum wasn't constantly busy with all the ins and outs of the company she ran, Slaine doubted he'd ever have a chance with her, in or out of work. She must have dozens of young men competing for her affections. No, as the invisible newbie intern, fresh out of college and greener than green, he might as well have been wallpaper.

Still, his position as official and not-so-official "errand boy" let him occasionally get closer to her than he'd ever thought possible. Just last week he'd been sent off to fetch coffee for her. Slaine knew how she liked it without anyone telling him, of course, having paid attention to nothing but everything about her since he'd gotten there, and she had actually looked right at him when he'd handed it to her, smiled, and said, "Thank you."

It had been one of the happiest days of his life.

Slaine gathered up the copies with a dreamy sigh. He had it so bad. It was honestly kind of pitiful.

Maybe it'd be better if he went into commercial airliners instead. No workplace drama, no water-cooler gossip, just the free empty sky and occasional radio chatter.

_Asseylum would look pretty cute in a flight attendant uniform… _came the unbidden thought to him as he was considering it.

"Troyard!" Cruhteo's voice bellowed from down the hallway. "Where are those copies? The meeting's in five minutes!"

He started to attention. "Coming sir!" he called.

He rushed out and trotted to catch up to the bigger man's long stalking strides. Cruhteo scowled over the papers in his blue folder, weaving through the crowd on the way to the boardroom. Slaine thought he hear the man muttering about 'taxes' and 'profit shares' and 'that damned Saazbaum' on occasion.

He filed into the room after his superior, who took a seat at the table while Slaine went around the room, passing out copies of the presentation.

His heart skidded nervously when he approached the table head. Asseylum was sharply dressed in a heather gray jacket and skirt, the edges of a frilly white blouse peeking out from under her collar. Her hair was splaying across the table as she leaned over it, taking notes.

He swallowed, sliding a copy within her reach, and just about melted when she looked up and smiled at him again.

"Thank you."

"My pleasure," he blurted before he could stop himself. Slaine blanched first, then flushed beet red, a wide-eyed expression of embarrassment taking over his face.

Asseylum cupped a hand over her mouth and _giggled_. At him.

He was torn between humiliation and thinking it was the cutest thing he'd ever heard.

Awkwardly, he cleared his throat and excused himself to the back corners of the room, for once happy to fade away into the background.

The meeting was the usual boring assortment of things. Stocks, quarterlies, reports, future marketing. Slaine passed the time by watching Asseylum and daydreaming about the summer. Maybe he'd be able to get in some vacation hours. They were supposed to get perfect beach weather in a few weeks or so.

His mind wandered to thoughts of sun, surf, and Asseylum in a straw hat and cute bikini.

He almost missed it when Asseylum herself waved at him. He started, blundering into awareness.

"Yes?" he answered a little too quickly.

"What's your name again?" she asked him.

He could have died right then. "Slaine Troyard, ma'am." He was rather proud of the way he managed to say it without stuttering.

Asseylum keened her wonderful smile on him. "I seem to have left my reading glasses back on my desk," she explained sheepishly. "Do you mind terribly going to fetch them for me?"

His heart spun dizzily. "Right away, ma'am," he said, unable to suppress a grin as he scampered out.

Second best day of his life.


End file.
